Time lamplighter.



No. 639,166. Patented Dec. l2, |899.

J. FRUSSARD.

TIME LAMPLIGHTER.

(Application led Aug, 20, 1898.)

4 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

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1H: Nonms PETERS co, wom-uma. WASHINGTON n. u

Patenred Dec. I2, 1899,.

J. FRSSARD, TIME LAMPLIGHTER.

(Application filed Aug. 20, 1898.)

4 sham-sheet :2.

(No Model.)

W/ TNE SSE S No. 63eme. l Patenten nec. l2, 1899. J. FROSSARD.

TIME LAMPLIGHTER.

(Application led Ang. 20, 1898.) (No Model.) 4 she'ats-sheet 3.

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.1. FRossAnn. TIME LAMPLIGHTEB.

(Application med Lug. 2o, 139e.) (Nu Model.)

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Patented Dec., I2, |899.

4 Sheets-Shut 4.

INVENTOH WJ/MM 'gy l Aira YS- irnn4 STATES Al)ATENfI" OFFICE.

JOSEPH FROSSARD, OF PORRENTRUY, SWITZERLAND, ASSIGNOR TO `BERNHARD RND,OF ZURICH, SWITZERLAND.

TIME LAM PLIGHTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 639,166, dated December12, 1899.

` Application filed August 20, 1898. Serial No. 689,113. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it nur@ concern,.-

ing is a speciiication'.

One object of the present invention is to do away with the manual workinvolved by the lighting and extinguishing of gas-jets, such as those instreet-lamps, intended to burn for a predetermined number of hours.

Another object of the invention is to attain an accuracy in the time oflighting or extinguishin g which could not possibly be obtained by aworkman,as it is quite impossible for him to be at the same time withinreach of all the apparatus which are committed to his care.

This invention comprises the combination of a time mechanism with adevice intended to cut off the source of light and with a mechanismacting upon the latter at predetermined hours.

The apparatus comprises an inlet-pipe for lthe gas and a feed or supplypipe on which the burner is secured. A small lighting-pipe is providedfor supplying the auxiliary burner or pilot-light with gas, the saidpilot-light burning only in the daytime.

The invention consists in connecting or disconnecting alternately atfixed hours the inlet and feed pipes and in connecting at other timesthe feed-pipe and the pilot-pipe. This is done by means of a double-seatvalve connected with a valveoperating lever acted upon by means of amechanism secured to a vertical supportingplate. The said plate carries,on the one hand, by means of suitable pillars or distance-pieces, otherplates and bridges, besides a dial and a case witha suitable clockwork,and, on the other hand, a pivoted rocking-lever, connected to the saiddouble-seat valve and acted upon by one of the gears of the saidclockwork.

The obturator is composed of the aforesaid double-seat valve, located ina case inserted between the inlet and feed pipes. The lower valve properof this double -seat valve is screwed thoroughly on a pin. The uppervalve is loosely fitted on the rod of the lower valve,

and a spiral spring is provided between them,

surrounding the said rod and tending to keep the valves apart. A screwsecured to the upper valve and engaging into a notch of the rod of thelower valve is intended to limit the relative play of both valves. Theupper valve is guided in the casing. It is intended to prevent the gasfrom passing from the inlettube into the feed-tube through holes in thevalve-casing., The lower valve is guided by its lower hollow sternthrough a hole in the screw-cap of the casing, the escape of the gasthrough the opening being prevented by either of two conical portions ofthe said stems alternately bearing on either of two conical seatsprovided in the said screw-cap, the one above and the other one belowthe lateral opening corresponding with the pilot-tube.

In view of having the invention the better understood I will now proceedto describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings, makinga part of the present application for patent.

In the drawings, Figure l is afront elevation of the improved apparatus.Fig. 2 is a back elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation ofthe same. Fig. 4 is a back elc- Vation of part of the apparatus with asection through the line y of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 shows a section of thetubes on the line y ,e of Fig. 2. the line 'u w of Fig. 3. tion of theapparatus, explaining the connection of the external lever with theinternal anchor device acting upon the same. Fig. 8 is a top view of theclockwork. Fig. 9 is a Fig. 6 is a section of the tubes on Fig. 7 showsa porsimilar top view after the withdrawal of some portions of the work.Fig. l0 is a similar top View after the withdrawal of some furtherportions of the works. Fig. 1l is a side elevation with a partialsection of the parts shown in the last figure. Fig. 12 is a plan view ofthe parts of the clockwork situated under thedial. Fig. 13 is anenlarged crosssection of the same and of the dial and hands in differentposition to Figwll. Fig. 14 is a side elevation of some portions ot' thegearing. Figs. 15 and 16 show detached portions of the clockwork,whichwill be fully described below.

In all the Iigures the same letters refer to4 the same parts.

IOO

A is a frame or plate to which are fixed on the one side thevalve-casing and connectingtubes and on the other side the clockwork.

B is the casing of the double-seat valve, Figs. 4 'and 5. The saidcasing Bis connected by means of a pipe b with the inlet-pipe B/ and bymeans of an elbow-pipe b2 tothe feed or supply pipe B2, on which theburner is secured in the usual way.' The casing B is further connectedwith the small lighting-pipe the said cock would be turned, so as toshut the pipe B' and to open the pipe B4.

The double-seat valve is formed of a lower portion C, screwed on a pinc. The said valve C is intended to bear upon its `seat b3 in View ofpreventing the escape of gas coming from the inlet-pipe B through theinner portion of the casing B to the pilot-pipe B3 when the upperportion C of the valve is open, and the pin c has a conical portion c',which is intended to bear upon a seat b4, formed in the screw-cap B5, inView of preventing the escape o f gas out of the said cap B5 wheneverthe lower portion C of the double-seat valve is open, as shown in Fig.4.

The upper portion C of the double-seat valve is loosely fitted on therod c2 of the lower portion of the same, and a spiral spring c3 isprovided between them,surrounding the said rod and tending to keep thevalves apart. A

vscrew c4, secured to the said stem and engaging into a slot of theupper valve, is intended to limit the relative play of both valves.

In the position of the parts illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings thedouble-seat valve is pressed upward., and this causes the upper valve Cto be pressed on its seat b5 and the cone c of the rod c to be pressedon its seat b4, while the lower Valve U is disconnected from its seatb3. It therefore appears that the gas entering the casing B through theinlet-pipe B can escape neither into the supply-pipe B; nor out of theaxial hole of the screw-cap B5; but the said gas is free to escape intothe pilot-burner pipe B3 as long as the parts remain in the describedposition. Now, as is shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 7, the rod c of the lowervalve C is connected by means of a connecting-rod e to a rocking leverE, fixed by means ot' a screw c' to an axis F, projecting through theplate A and the clockwork lodged between the plates G and H. Thesaidplates G and H are connected with one another and with the frame orplate A by means ot suitable pillars g, and the axis F bears between thesaid plates A and .G an anchor-lever I, fixed to the same by means' of ascrew and having a projecting arm I, connected to a spring i', Fig. 8,fixed to the plate G and intended to cause the rocking motion of thesaid anchor-lever I, which will be described below, to take place at ajump, the said spring t tending to force always the anchor-lever I intoone of its extreme positions, which involve the two extreme positions ofthe rocking lever E-that is to say, either in a position of the saidlever E in which it presses the double-seat lever to top, opening thevalve C and shutting the valves C' and c', or in a position of saidlever E in which it presses the said double-seat valve down, opening thevalve C and shutting the valve C.

The anchor-lever I engages its forked arm withthe projecting end of theaxis lo of a pinion K, which is lodged between the plates G and H, andthe said projecting end of the axis 7c has a projecting nose 7c', whichcauses the said forked arm of the leverI to be alternately thrown to andfro whenthe axis 7c is rotated. Now the pinion K is alternately rotatedand stopped by means of a clockwork provided with suitable starting andstopping devices, which I will now proceed to describe with reference toFigs. 7 to le of the drawings. Between the plates G and H there is firstprovided a mainspring-barrel L. The one end of the inainspring`contained in the barrel L is attached to the said barrel, the teeth ot'which act upon a clockwork of usual system. rlhe same is composed of afirst wheel N', second wheel N2, third wheel N3, fourth wheel N4,escapement-wheel N5, and balance-wheel N6. The axis n of the Wheel N2projects through the plate H and is pivoted in a bridge h, fixed on theouter face of the same, Fig. 12. The said axis n bears a pinion whichengages a center wheel O,Which will be described below. The toothedwheel and escapement of the clockwork just described are suitablycombined, so as to cause the center wheel O to perform one revolution intwenty-four hours. The axis of the said wheel O bears a hand O', whichmarks the hours on a concentric division of the dial Q, numbered from Oto 12, on each half of its periphery, so as to indicate the hours fromnoon to midnight and from midnight to noon. The axis n further bears awheel n2, engaging a pinion p, the axis of which projects IOO IIO

through the dial Q and bears a small hand P,

marking the minutes on a smaller dial onthe dial Q. The inner end of themainspring contained in the barrel L is attached to the axis Z of thesame, to which is affixed a wheel M, which gears with the intermediatewheel M. The wheel M further gears with a winding-up wheel X, the axis Wof which projects through the dial Q and is provided with a square end,so as to be engaged by a suitable key for winding up the mainspring. Theaxis of the wheel M bears a loose Wheel m', which is connected to thewheel M by means of a spring m and click-teeth connection m8, allowingthe said wheel M' to be rotated in one direction without the loose wheelm for the purpose of winding up the mainspring, but causing the saidloose wheel m' to be withdrawn with the wheel M when the latter isrotating in the inverse direction. The loose wheel m' engages theabove-mentioned pinion K, the axis 7c of which bears the nose orprojection 7c',acting upon the forked arm of the anchorlever I. At everyhalf-rotation of the axis la the nose 7c' of the same acts upon one ofthe branches of the said forked arm of the anchor-lever I, causingthereby the latter to be rocked from one of its extreme positions in theother one, and causing thereby the lever E to be rocked and to` throwthe double-seat valve either to top or to depressthe same into itslowest position. The loose wheel m further gears with the pinion of awheel M2, which drives the pinion of a wheel M3, gearing with the pinionof the wheel M4, driving the arbor m of a flyregulator M5. The sameconsists of a disk M5, iixed to the arbor m5, and to which areeccentrically pivoted two Wings m2 by means of the screws m3. The saidwings m2 are provided each with a projection m4, engaging with a springm9, Fig. l0, which is held in its place by means of the heads of thescrews m3. When at rest, the said spring m9 tends to maintain the wingsm2 applied the one against the other, as shown in Fig. 10; but when thedisk M5 is rotated with a certain speed then the centrifugal forcethrows the wings m2 outward, Fig. 16, the pins m4 compressing the springmi. This whole device is lodged Within a cylindrical box MX, fixed tothe plate H, and whenever the wings 'm2 are thrown outward, as justspecified, they are caused to engage with the inner walls of the saidfixed box, and thereby a friction is produced which is more or lessintense, according to the speed of the disk M5. This device acts,therefore, as a very intense brake regulator upon the whole train ofwheels M, M', m', M2, M3, and M4. The disk M5 is further provided with asuitable radial projection m6, which is intended to engage the rockinglever R, pivoted at o" to the plate H and liable tobe rockedperpendicularly to the said plate H in a slot h', by which it is engagedwit-h smooth friction, so as to keep always, the position in which ithas just been rocked. Now the said rockingleverRis provided with anopening r', through which is passed a sliding bolt S, capable of beinglongitudinally slid on the plate H and provided with a projecting nose.S' and with two projecting pins s'. The said projecting nose S' isformed of two inclines and is intended to throw the rocking lever R intothe position shown in Fig. 13 whenever the-sliding bolt S is slid ineither direction from one of its extreme positions to the other one,whereby the nose S', being forced through the said opening fr' of thelever R, lifts the latter into the position shown, in which it remainsuntil the action of the pin u or c, lifting the center wheel O and `ofthe ily-wheel might be inexact.

the spring T, acts upon the end r3 of said lever R and projects the sameinto the position shown. This sliding of the bolt Sis caused by means ofa radial arm f2, projecting from the axis F between the two pins s', andtherefore it will easily be understood that the to-and-fro sliding ofthe bolt S will take place at same time asn the rocking of the leverE--that is to say, at same time as the up or down motion of thedouble-seat valve C C'. Each sliding of the bolt S causes the rockinglever R to take the stopping position shown in Fig. 1l, in which the oneend r2 of the same is within the path of the radial. projection 'm6 ofthe disk M5 and in which it stops the rotation of the latter. Theinverse rocking of the lever R is caused by depressing the spring T,Figs. l2 and 13, which bears upon the end r3 of the said lever R, andthe depressing of the spring T is caused by means of a rocker T',pivoted in a suitable opening of the abovementioned center `wheel O andprovided on the one side with a projecting edge t', intended to act uponthe said spring T, and on the other side with a projecting edge t2, in-`tended to be acted upon by the pins u and fu of the disks U' and V', towhich are fixed the hands Uand V, (see Fig. 13,) which one sets upon thehours at which the gas-jets are to be lighted or extinguished. The dialQ is surrounded by a notched circle Q', in view of securing the hands Uand V in the desired position.

, It is necessary that when the spring T is depressed by the action ofthe pins u or n upon the rocker '1" the fly-regulator M5 remain stoppeduntil the said pin 'it or i: is disengaged from the said rocker T'.According to the slow rotation of the wheel O the lifting of the rockinglever R from its position shownin Fig. 11 to its position shown in Fig.13 is rather slow, and therefore the starting To avoid this, the springT is provided with a projection 3, which engages the projection m6 ofthe disk M5 whenever the action of the pins u and o lifts the wheel Oand spring T into the position shown and remains engaged until therocker T' is disengaged from the pin u or u. Then the springTthrows thewheel O into the position shown and the pin 153 is suddenly thrown outof the path of the said projection m of the fly-regulator, which is thenfree.

The whole clockwork is surrounded by a casing Y, the bottom of which isinserted between the pillars g and the plate A and which is closed bymeans of a cover Y', provided with a glass y.

The described apparatus will play as follows: The mainspring being woundup, the clockwork, composed of the gears N' to NG, will continuously goand cause the hand O' to mark the hours and the hand P to mark theminutes. The hands U and V are then placed upon the time at which onewishes to have the gas-jet lighted (between noon and midnight) andextinguished, (between midnight IOO IIO

and noon.) This will determine the moments at which the rocker T',rotating with the hourwheel O, shall successively be acted upon b v thepins u and@ of the hands Uand V. Until this occurs the rocking lever Rremains in the position shown in Fig. l1, in which it has been placedbya precedent action. Now if one of the pins u or n depresses thevrockerT' the latter depresses in turn the spring T and the end r3 of the leverR. The end r2- of the same is then put out of reach of the projection m6of the fly-regulator M5, as shown in Fig. 13, and the latter begins torotate, but is immediately stopped again by the pin t3 of the spring Tuntil the latter is allowed by the rocker T', bearing the pin u or lv,to

be lifted again into the position shown in Fig. 11. Then the regulatorM5 is free to ro-` tate with the whole train of wheels M' fm' M2 M3 M4m5, and the wheel m' at the same time rotates the pinion K and the noseor projection 7c' of its axis 7a. This causes, after half a revolutionof the axis k, the anchor-lever I and rocking lever E (which We willsuppose to actually be in their positions shown in Figs. 2 and 7,corresponding to the position of the valve shown in Fig. 4) to be rockedinto their opposite positions, corresponding to the opening of the uppervalve C' and shutting of the lower valve C. The gas is then no moreallowed to escape into the pilot-pipe B3; but it is free to escape intothe supply-pipe B2, bearing the burner. At same time the arm f2 throwsthe bolt S from one of its extreme positions to the other, and the noseS' throws thereby the rocking lever R back to its position shown in Fig.13, in which it stops the ily-regulator M5, and thus the whole train ofwheels M' to M5. The parts remain then in the same position until theother of the pins u or c is struck by the rocker T and causes the sameactions to take place again and the double-seat valve to be moved in theinverse sense, bringing the saine again into the position shown in Fig.4, in which the gasis not allowed to escape to the supply-pipe B2, butonly to the pilot-pipe B3. l

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim- 1. In apparatus forlighting and extinguishing gas-jets, the combination of a starting andstoppingdevice, comprising hands U and V, disks U" and V' thereforprovided with projections u and fu, a dial Q having a circular series ofnotches,for preventing the accidental displacement of the hands, anhour-.wheel O, and a rocker T' pivoted in a recess of the latter, andprovided with projections t' and t2, the former being adapted to actupon the starting and stopping lever, and the latter rbeing acted uponby said projections u and o, substantially as set forth.

2. An apparatus for lighting and extinguish ing gas-jets, comprising aninlet-pipe B', a valve-casing B, a connecting-pipe b', supply-pipe B2,elbow connections between the inlet-pipe B' and the connecting-pipe b',and the valve-casing B and the supply-pipe B2, whereby the valve-casingis set back or offset from the pipes B' and B2, a plate or frame mountedon the inlet-pipe, and arranged between said elbow connections, theworks-containing box Y supported on the said frame between said elbowconnections, time mechanism contained in said box, a double valve insaid valve-casing, and suitable connections between the valve and timemechanism, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH BROSSARD.

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